Auferstehung
by Myrdschaem
Summary: He hadn’t been really surprised when he realized that a suitable corpse had been the easiest ingredient to obtain. Isty-bitsy teeny-weeny bit of Itasasu if you squint and turn your head fifty-three degrees to the right.
1. Negative

Note: Well, I thought it would never happen, but it has. Idea struc me after a long, long, long time and I decided to publish it. So it isn't written well and I'm not content with it jet, but I think I will never be so I posted it to see what suggestion, corrections (and secretly I hope a little bit of praise, I guess) you will make. both of them belong together, and you can read whichever you want at first.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I violate the rights anyway with this fiction. I'm full of gratitude the mangaka/shounen jump is not to bend on it.

"Auferstehung" means resurrection. But because you can divide the words in several parts, some of it means also to stand, to wake up, to stand up, to buy(oldfashioned, and to come into being. Make what you want of it.

Negative

He hadn't been really surprised when he realized that a suitable corpse had been the easiest ingredient to obtain

He hadn't been really surprised when he realized that a suitable corpse had been the easiest ingredient to obtain. Others had been more problematic and his own intentions of a quiet and unnoticed 'performance' had complicated matters further then he had expected. Again he went through the mental list of steps which he had forced himself to memorize seemingly forever and a day ago, only out of scorn and hate, never even regarding the thought of ever actually using this horrible ritual. Although he had seen since then many deeds certainly not very entertaining for the faint-hearted, the same pulling in his stomach - not quite an ache but unsettling nonetheless - made itself comfortable as it had done on the very dawn of being confronted with the technique for the first time in his life. 'Corpse' he recalled the last item on the table of necessary equipment and resources.

Finally a sigh escaped the caverns and alveoli of the healthy breathing organs the man (or boy?) possessed. Never one to stretch things out until he forgot to do and so unconsciously avoiding them, he set his back straight and lunged into a string of hand seals, binding them together as other people might have knitted socks - seriously as well as at a speed suggesting it had become a routine long ago. His eyes bore across the little camp fire he had fought so hard to light just a few hours before and into the still warm body - dead, yes; lifeless, no, for many cells still battled to keep on working without the constant nurture and stream of oxygen coming from blood and without a way to transport toxic goods inevitable made in many processes and reactions within themselves away from them.

--

His eyes opened like a lotus flower unclasps to the beams of moonlight. And indeed above him he saw the companion of Earth reflecting the light of sun. The sight delighted him and saddened him at the same time. For he had been dead and though the insight into many twisted corners of the mind of man and the shifting paths of the future the embrace of death granted, these could not be taken to the world of the living. The man (for nothing else he was and had been for a long time) was unconcerned by this as he could have guessed who had brought him back better than any other force in the realms of god and man. Slowly he raised torso until it was upright - 'Dust' he noted the material of his fingertips in his mind - and lazily swept his gaze around seeking the pair of red he was sure to meet. He locked gazes with the other over a heap of smouldering ash trying to look like the remains of a fire.

'Sasuke' he greeted not kindly but still calm.

'Itachi' came the reply of the boy just as monotone. He watched carefully as his once nightmare settled himself against a tree trunk unintently snuggling into the coat Sasuke had fixed with another jutsu. He rubbed the thumb and the index finger of his left hand together hard entertaining himself with the falling and then returning dust. He looked up again. 'So, this is Edo Tensei?'

Sasuke nodded. His older brother opened his pony tail and started binding it tighter anew. It was (had been he reminded himself) a rare chance that Itachi started a conversation if it was not connected to a mission and the redoing of his hair also gave away his uncomfort. The boy felt himself becoming nervous also. His counterpart spoke again grabbing the initiative for the second time. 'Why did you summon me?' His voice held a harsh sounding note almost angry.

'I want to know why.' The words launched from the mouth of his otouto and seized Itachi's aorta. The question which haunted his whole life and the one he always tried to avoid answering cannot even let me rest in peace he pondered, almost swallowing, indeed he would have if it was not for the fact it would ruin his chances of escaping the question one last time.

'Did not Madara tell you everything?' He tried distraction.

'Madara' Sasuke started stretching the vocals of name almost uncomfortably 'Told me Konoha ordered the massacre of our clan. You became a double agent for both the Uchihas - trying to usurp because of being mistrusted and mistreated - and for ANBU and Root he said. He claimed you half begged, half gambled for my life hoping to evoke pity while threatening to leak out important secrets - mission performance, details about the force and special ninjas, emergency plans, everything important - to-to... what do I know, other hidden villages, nuke-nin, akatsuki, hell! According to him you wanted to protect me and you yearned for peace - this is the why your parents are dead, this is the reason you left your friends and your home, this is the reason I killed my brother for!' The boy with the usual demeanour of a succulent stopped, breathing deeply to calm himself. It was a long time since he had first imagined this talk, the final desperate question of 'why?!' and an honest answer always ending with Itachi as the scapegoat. He shifted his legs as if attempting to wake his drowsy feet. His blazing gaze which had been drawn towards his lap lifted again to encounter the one on the other side of the fire. It became steady and firm and also determined and inconvincible, almost too fierce for the elder to endure. 'Tell me, Uchiha Itachi. Is this what you regard as truth too? Is there anything you think important enough to add or is there anything which is false and must be corrected or cleared? Answer me sincerely and do it as detailed as you can and in a language I'm fluent in.' Sasuke half cried. And as if in afterthought he declared: 'This is an order.'

Only the last words left his brother vulnerable to the full extended wrath of the necromantic jutsu. He doubled over feeling as if his heart - not he fist sized muscle residing in his chest - was wrapped in iron binds and squeezed until it could not beat on its own. Breathing became hard and he laboured to keep it up. 'Please...' he managed to choke out.

The other nodded. 'You are granted five minutes to consider your wording.' The chains around his fist-sized muscle vanished immediately. Thankfully but still uncomfortable he rose again. Two possibilities were present for the one with the faster paced time: Either deny having done the killing of his family unwillingly and telling his opposite equal he had been left alive because of the reasons mentioned in their last fight; otherwise he could confirm the tale he had been told. He chose otherwise.

"It is true - what you have just recounted I mean. Everything I have committed I did in hope of peace - not for me, but for Konoha, for you - and the sake of trying to preserve your most distinguished qualities - when you were a child, of course - but as it seems your eager nature, your plainness and your skill in balancing both were never meant to be perennially - I think adolescence would have destroyed them at last. So tell me, precious younger brother, what are you going to do after such revelations?" Intently the speaker had paid attention to the other but unlike other(luckier?) times he could not witness any change or metamorphosis in the countenance. Almost disappointed he craved the answer.

The avenger remained steadfast. "I believe my family - including you - is not paid back. I lack heads of responsible people a lot I reckon. Therefore I will get what I still need - at least the elders, at most Konoha I claim for this task." Boring unchangingly into the oculars across the fire he added: "Is this comfortable with you, nii-san?"

Even though he had guessed an outcome like this would be possible - silently Itachi cursed his Otouto the first time in his entire life and death for his stubbornness- he could feel desolation sneak finally into his mind claiming her throne - after endless struggles to keep her out she settled down in the place awaiting her presence for the long years of his life - and fill it up. The undead male had never desired to let this particular devasting emotion - only despair being similar unsettling for him - make herself at home. He desired to be enveloped in her and yet he could not turn away from the bitter reality. The one he had wanted to protect from the truth and the resolve he had made so long ago had been enlightened on it - from Madara nonetheless he added bitterly - and his brother, Sasuke had made his own decision: destroy the home, the shelter he himself had tried to provide for the person Itachi always put before him. He could only imagine how much havoc the powerful shinobi could wreak in the place he had longed to be in all the years in Akatsuki. Never had he wished for something in his heart but he had bend all his mind on this single thought, the ideal moment of having Sasuke in his arms again, spending time with him, helping him, soothing him, seeing him, being with him... It was not what he had desired even once. "Yes, it is." he answered despite this. Never would he deny his sibling anything, no matter how much he resisted against it, the other would be put before him. In death even more than in life.

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you. I thought sometimes you maybe would have not wished for revenge." The other replied monotone but still the voice was more timid than before almost shy. "I hope I will meet you in the next life again." He smiled dispelling the necromantic jutsu.

Itachi watched startled and with growing dread as his brother started preparing for the assault in the next days while he turned to dust again.


	2. Positive

Note: Well, I thought it would never happen, but it has. Idea struc me after a long, long, long time and I decided to publish it. So it isn't written well and I'm not content with it jet, but I think I will never be so I posted it to see what suggestion, corrections (and secretly I hope a little bit of praise, I guess) you will make. both of them belong together, and you can read whichever you want at first.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I violate the rights anyway with this fiction. I'm full of gratitude the mangaka/shounen jump is not to bend on it.

"Auferstehung" means resurrection. But because you can divide the words in several parts, some of it means also to stand, to wake up, to stand up, to buy(oldfashioned, and to come into being. Make what you want of it.

Positive

He hadn't been really surprised when he realized that a suitable corpse had been the easiest ingredient to obtain

He hadn't been really surprised when he realized that a suitable corpse had been the easiest ingredient to obtain. Others had been more problematic and his own intentions of a quiet and unnoticed 'performance' had complicated matters further then he had expected. Again he went through the mental list of steps which he had forced himself to memorize seemingly forever and a day ago, only out of scorn and hate, never even regarding the thought of ever actually using this horrible ritual. Although he had seen since then many deeds certainly not very entertaining for the faint-hearted, the same pulling in his stomach - not quite an ache but unsettling nonetheless - made itself comfortable as it had done on the very dawn of being confronted with the technique for the first time in his life. 'Corpse' he recalled the last item on the table of necessary equipment and resources.

Finally a sigh escaped the caverns and alveoli of the healthy breathing organs the man (or boy?) possessed. Never one to stretch things out until he forgot to do and so unconsciously avoiding them, he set his back straight and lunged into a string of hand seals, binding them together as other people might have knitted socks - seriously as well as at a speed suggesting it had become a routine long ago. His eyes bore across the little camp fire he had fought so hard to light just a few hours before and into the still warm body - dead, yes; lifeless, no, for many cells still battled to keep on working without the constant nurture and stream of oxygen coming from blood and without a way to transport toxic goods inevitable made in many processes and reactions within themselves away from them.

--

His eyes opened like a lotus flower unclasps to the beams of moonlight. And indeed above him he saw the companion of Earth reflecting the light of sun. The sight delighted him and saddened him at the same time. For he had been dead and though the insight into many twisted corners of the mind of man and the shifting paths of the future the embrace of death granted, these could not be taken to the world of the living. The man (for nothing else he was and had been for a long time) was unconcerned by this as he could have guessed who had brought him back better than any other force in the realms of god and man. Slowly he raised torso until it was upright - 'Dust' he noted the material of his fingertips in his mind - and lazily swept his gaze around seeking the pair of red he was sure to meet. He locked gazes with the other over a heap of smouldering ash trying to look like the remains of a fire.

'Sasuke' he greeted not kindly but still calm.

'Itachi' came the reply of the boy just as monotone. He watched carefully as his once nightmare settled himself against a tree trunk unintently leaning into the coat Sasuke had fixed with another jutsu. He rubbed the thumb and the index finger of his left hand together hard entertaining himself with the falling and then returning dust. He looked up again. 'So, this is Edo Tensei?'

Sasuke nodded. His older brother remained still as he awaited his next action. The boy felt himself becoming nervous soon. His counterpart spoke again grabbing the initiative for the second time. 'Why did you summon me?' His voice held a harsh sounding note almost unnerved it seemed.

'I want to know why.' The undead he had called was just as relaxed as always he didn't really seem to mind his involuntary resurrection. His sibling had tried all he could to remain stoic but he carved in to his anxiety in the end. The flutter in his stomach could not seem to be stopped without Itachi's help he craved the contact to the one he had wanted to curse so often but never really found the heart to do so. Taming his desires he awaited his answer.

'Did not Madara tell you everything?' He was given from the older across the fire as a reply. The pointed gaze accompanying it stared patiently into his eyes never flicking aside like the younger's own liked to do so often when he fazed the older.

'Madara' Sasuke started stretching the vocals of name almost uncomfortably 'Told me Konoha ordered the massacre of our clan. You became a double agent for both the Uchihas - trying to usurp because of being mistrusted and mistreated - and for ANBU and Root he said. He claimed you half begged, half gambled for my life hoping to evoke pity while threatening to leak out important secrets - mission performance, details about the force and special ninjas, emergency plans, everything important - to-to... what do I know, other hidden villages, nuke-nin, akatsuki, hell! According to him you wanted to protect me and you yearned for peace - this is the why your parents are dead, this is the reason you left your friends and your home, this is the reason I killed my brother for!' The boy with the usual demeanour of a succulent stopped, breathing deeply to calm himself. It was a long time since he had first imagined this talk, the final desperate question of 'why?!' and an honest answer always ending with Itachi as the scapegoat. He shifted his legs as if attempting to wake his drowsy feet. His blazing gaze which had been drawn towards his lap lifted again to encounter the one on the other side of the fire. It became steady and firm and also determined and inconvincible, almost too fierce one could think for the elder to endure. 'Tell me, Uchiha Itachi. Is this what you regard as truth too? Is there anything you think important enough to add or is there anything which is false and must be corrected or cleared? Answer me sincerely and do it as detailed as you can and in a language I'm fluent in.' Sasuke half cried. And as if in afterthought he declared: 'This is an order.'

Only the last words left his brother vulnerable to the full extended wrath of the necromantic jutsu. He almost doubled over feeling as if his heart - the very fist sized muscle residing in his chest - was wrapped in iron binds and squeezed until it could not beat on its own. He started chuckling slowly in a still voice(1).

'And you believed him I assume?' He questioned seeming genuily amused as if Sasuke had made a great joke. The fluttering in his younger brother's stomach cavern stopped abruptly making room for the first signs of dread to settle there. Suddenly he wished he had kept the fire ignited longer for he now felt the cold night mist wrap around him. The undead wasn't affected at all. 'Ah, foolish little brother,' and the given smile stretched just a bit too far on the speaker's lips to make it gentle. It was the smile bearing the grin of their last encounter. 'You should not be deceived so easily, even if it was Madara. Have not I told you often enough why I did it myself? You should not believe such things if I answered them sincerely already. No doubt he wanted you to help him fulfilling his old grudge. What a fool he is and what more of a fool are you to trust him!' He paused smiling the stretching expression from before. The undead rose with no haste and closed in on the other along with the horror only a living dead can produce - even as Sasuke was the master. But he sat motionless awaiting the coming doom. The widerganger kneeled before him and clutched the face gently in his appendices. 'So what are you going to do now, little brother?' Itachi licked the left side of his face from chin to eyebrow glowering in the wide unseeing eyes before him.

The abhorred shinobi could only release the jutsu as he saw his childhood nightmare come alive again as he felt the viscera in his abdomen come to live with utter terror.

(1) Oxymoron! XD I love them.


End file.
